High School students building a new model for education by constructing energy efficient, high perfoming, sustainable, green, and affordable housing for America's urban working families.
The 2006 -2007 build will be L.E.E.D. certified. This house is being built in partnership between the Columbus Housing Partnership, the Home B.A.S.E. Foundation, the Home B.A.S.E. class of 2007 with support from the City of Columbus.
Contact us at: rbeck1@wowway.com

Sunday, May 5, 2008

The landscaping in the front of the house is finished. We have native Ohio plants including tall prairie grasses. The landscape plants are also drought tolerant.

The kitchen island was installed along with the vanities for the bathrooms. There are no pictures of the vanities due to the small space in which to take a photograph.

April 20, 2008

With some beautiful weather last week, the house is beginning to be wrapped up.

Left and above left: The solid maple flooring ready to be sanded.

The recycled content tile in the master bathroom. The shower surround will be also be tiled.

The newly rebuilt stonewall ready for landscaping this week.

The approach to the driveway with the poruspavers that are seeded with grass seed which is ready to grow.

April, 13,2008

The house is starting to get it's interior flooring and cabinetry installed.

Below: Shaw carpet squares installed in the upstairs. One noticeable feature was the absence of the "new carpet smell" which is the result of the toxic organic volatile organic compounds that off-gas from all other brands of carpets.

Below: The native maple hardwood flooring that has just begun to be installed.

Below: A series of picture taken of the same hallway/closet during the build.

February 4 - 16, 2008

The 97% efficiency furnace has been installed.

This is the door hardware for the house on top of the carpet that will be on the stairways and in the bedrooms. This is Shaw carpet that is non-toxic to humans and is made from carpet and can be made back into carpet once the life of the carpet has been reached.

Here is a messy job of reworking the insulation in the rim joist area of the house located in the basement.

Here is a shaky shot (due to a long aperature opening time) of the mess created in reworking the insulation.

This is like the picture below but is taken with a tripod to avoid the "jiggle" when one enlarges the picture. This was taken with a longer aperature time like the picture in the previous post but this one will look good when englarged.

January 28 - February 3, 2008

The interior has it's first coat of paint and the trim was installed throughout the house.

Looking at the stairway, basement and bathroom doors.

View from the kitchen to the front of the house.

View from the kitchen to the front door.

Interior of the front bedroom.

January 14-January 27, 2008 The energy performance of the house continues to be outstanding. The only heat source in the house is a little kerosene heater that is still being kept at it's lowest possible setting. With some very cold outside air temperatures such as five degrees, the house temperature will be 65 degrees F. If the outside air temperature goes to above twenty degrees, the house will be 69-70 F degrees.

Construction is moving forward with organization and planning to finish the home. Landscaping stone has been selected and ordered, the paint has been ordered, and the trim is scheduled to be delivered this week.

Judy Doll (right) talks to The Ohio State University students who are in charge of O.S.U.'s effort to build a solar decathlon home to be place on the national mall. These students toured the house to gain any information that will help them in their efforts.

Thanks to Edwards/Mooney and Moses, the house has been extremely well insulated. This company is extremely knowledgeable, does top quality work and knows about green, high performance building.

Our insulation was "soy-based" with a cellulose (ground up newspaper) cap.

The drywall will start to be finished.

The landscaping should start this week.

With just a small heater in the house the house stays warm. One of our volunteers will be happy to know that our thermometer (visible in the picture) does go past forty degrees and was sixty degrees in the house today when the outside air temperature was forty degrees.

The house has the drywall hung.

Same shot as above but with just the insulation and the ceiling drywall.

Looking from the master bedroom towards the front of the house.

Something to be careful of. When the drywall scrappers came to the house, they were going to put the drywall into this truck and take it to the landfill. Lucky we were on site and were able to catch them before they did that. We had them put the scrap into our dumpster so it can be reclaimed.

Great pains were taken to seal and insulate all cracks. This is around the front door.

All of the electrical boxes were sealed.

All of the ceiling penetrations were also sealed. This is the foam that has "oozed" out of the perimeter of the box.

A snowy Saturday when we came out from working on the house to take this picture. Within forty-five minutes from when the snow started, all of the streets had become very, very slippery. Later, some had said this these were the biggest snow flakes they had ever remembered seeing. In the picture are a mentor, adult volulnteer, teacher, and a Home B.A.S.E. student from 2007.

Students Built This House!

About Me

Created by teachers and successful for ten years before its cancellation, Home B.A.S.E. was a unique educational initiative created at a central Ohio High School to change public education in America. By creating a cohesive student/teacher/parent learning community, the program authentically integrated the subjects of senior year (English, Government, and Technology Education) through the powerful and emotionally engaging event of building affordable housing for America's working urban families. Home B.A.S.E. did more to end poverty housing in America than any other school in the nation and possibly the world by building eleven homes in ten years. Because of the real engagement with the surrounding local community and issue-based curriculum delivery, the students who participated in Home B.A.S.E. grew intellectually and emotionally. Today, the families who now own the homes made possible by the students have a decent, affordable place to live and, along with the students, have a stake in the American Dream.